Many traditional companies have formalized the process of brainstorming, reducing it to an activity often characterized as the untrained leading the unwilling to do the…
Abstract
Many traditional companies have formalized the process of brainstorming, reducing it to an activity often characterized as the untrained leading the unwilling to do the unnecessary. However, many, if not most, successful innovations come from the “wrong” places—nonconformists with an obsession, individuals stumbling on new discoveries by accident, people finding new uses for products intended for different markets, and so on. After twenty‐five years of studying IBM, General Electric, Polaroid, and Xerox, James Brian Quinn of the Amos Tuck Business School at Dartmouth College found that not a single major product had come from the formal planning process.
The Planning Forum's Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. posted another attendance record. Some 1300 senior executives exchanged war stories, business theories, and points of…
Abstract
The Planning Forum's Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. posted another attendance record. Some 1300 senior executives exchanged war stories, business theories, and points of view with each other while attending three days of presentations by major company CEOs, consultants to leading corporations, noted academics, and practitioners of strategic management.
Contrary to popular belief, the United States never has been dominantly a manufacturing country. More people have always been employed in the service sector. They now account for…
Abstract
Contrary to popular belief, the United States never has been dominantly a manufacturing country. More people have always been employed in the service sector. They now account for about 78 percent of all employment in the U.S., although that does not include the additional 12 percent of employees in manufacturing companies who perform service activities.
Corporate innovation is an often misunderstood process, largely because managing it successfully requires inherently contradictory aims, such as control and freedom. This article…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate innovation is an often misunderstood process, largely because managing it successfully requires inherently contradictory aims, such as control and freedom. This article looks at a variety of approaches by leading authorities.
Design/methodology/approach
A number of recent books have examined the paradoxical tensions at the heart of the innovation process. The article assesses the guidance they offer practitioners on how to manage a process replete with conflict and contradictions.
Findings
Several authors suggest unconventional approaches to unleash the talents of individuals and groups in ways that are productive for the organization.
Practical implications
One of the main challenges in leading innovation is to cultivate both cohesion and dissent.
Originality/value
This masterclass is a useful primer for practitioners leading an innovation initiative.
Details
Keywords
To find out, from the perspective of the authors of a well‐known textbook on strategic management, in what ways they think the field is changing.
Abstract
Purpose
To find out, from the perspective of the authors of a well‐known textbook on strategic management, in what ways they think the field is changing.
Design/methodology/approach
Strategy & Leadership interviewed Arthur A. Thompson, Jr, A.J. Strickland III and John E. Gamble, the authors of the widely used textbook Crafting and Executing Strategy: Text and Readings, 15th edition (McGraw‐Hill/Irwin, 2006), to learn how they adapted the book to keep up with developments in the field.
Findings
Changes include:new analytical tools and ways of looking at strategy issues; new concepts and terms appear in the literature; companies encounter new or different kinds of strategic issues; and each new edition has to include the latest and best examples of “strategy in action.”
Practical implications
Sample practical suggestions: “A case can be made that a disproportionate amount of the research being published in today's “top tier” journals makes little difference to the practice of strategic management.” “To restore relevancy, business‐school deans and faculty must begin to place far higher scholarly value on research that truly advances the practice of management.” “I think we are now seeing a new trend, where more and more of the younger faculty lack training in the case method and are uncomfortable using it.”
Originality/value
The authors have watched strategic management literature develop and have a unique perspective on how the teaching of strategy has evolved.
Details
Keywords
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
Abstract
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.